


I Know You’re There

by FandomOwlTrash



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AU, Canon Divergent, F/M, Fluff, Mileven, Mileven kisses, SO MUCH FLUFF, early return
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 00:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19051840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomOwlTrash/pseuds/FandomOwlTrash
Summary: What if when Eleven went to the school Mike actually saw her?One-shot based on season 2 episode 3 when El is looking for Mike in Hawkins Middle. Enjoy!





	I Know You’re There

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fluff I wrote while I was half asleep. Let me know what you think!

“Yeah, but you don’t want me in your party!”

“Correct.” 

“Why not?!” 

“Because you’re annoying!” Mike fired back at Max. Truth be told, Mike hated how it felt like she was replacing El. “Also, we don’t need another Party member. I’m our Paladin, Will’s our Cleric, Dustin’s our Bard, Lucas is our Ranger, and El is our Mage!” And there it was. He said it. 

Max looked equal parts frustrated, intrigued, and confused. “El? Who’s El?” 

“Someone.” Mike hesitated. “No one.”

“Someone or no one?”

Mike sighed. “She was in our Party a long time ago. She moved away, okay?”

“She was a Mage?” Max asked, stepping on her skateboard. “Well, what could she do? Like, magic tricks or something?” She glided past Mike and stepped onto the floor in front of him. “Well I could be your Zoomer.”

“That’s not even a real thing!” Mike shouted. 

“It could be,” Max reasoned. She got back on her skateboard, riding in circles around Mike. “See? Zoomer.”

He, however, wasn’t buying it. “Mind-blowing.”

Max laughed, arms outstretched. “Come on, you know you’re impressed.”

“I don’t see any tricks. You’re just going around in a circle.” 

“If it’s so easy, you try it,” Max snarkily suggested. 

“No.”

“Why not?” 

“I don’t know how!” Mike said, frustrated.  _ This girl _ .

“So, then you admit it’s kind of impressive,” Max pestered. 

“I think if I spent, like, all day practicing, I could do that,” Mike fired back at her.

Max grinned. “I would give you a million bucks if you could.”

“Okay, you’re making me dizzy,” he complained. “Please just stop.”

“I’ll stop when I join your Party.” 

“Come on, just stop.” 

“It’s a simple question,” Max kept up her loop around Mike. “Am I in or out?”

Mike couldn’t help but grin. 

Just when he was about to open his mouth, Max fell off her board with a ground shaking crash. The skateboard glided away, forgotten. 

“Jesus!” Mike ran over to her. “Are you okay?”

The red headed girl grabbed the hand he offered her. “Yeah, yeah, I think so.” 

“What happened?”

Max shrugged. “I don’t know. It was like a magnet or something pulling on my board.” She started to walk away. “I know that sounds crazy.” 

Mike stared at where Max had left, gears turning in his mind. Last November, when El had saved him from falling to his death on the cliff, it felt like a magnet pulling him back up to safety. He looked towards the door. No El.  _ Screw it, _ he thought, dashing out the door. He even dropped his Supercom on the gym floor as he raced into the hall. “El?” He called. “El!” 

Eleven stopped in her tracks.  _ Mike _ ? 

“Wait, where are you going?” Max called after him. He ignored her. 

“El” I know you’re there!” Mike shouted. He didn't know, but he hoped. He desperately hoped. 

_ He knows I’m here _ . El looked around. His voice was getting closer. Either she had to stay and face Mike, or escape and leave him with  _ that girl _ . El thought for a moment, thought about Hopper, how he told her that she was the last thing he needed. As if on cue, she heard Mike again.

“Please, El, if you’re there, just, I don’t know, say something.” His voice broke. “I need to know you’re okay. I need  _ you _ .”

She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath.  _ Friends don’t lie _ . “Mike,” she said. It was barely more than a whisper, but she saw him round the corner. 

He stopped dead in his tracks. “El?” He murmured, equally as quiet. Then he saw her. 

It took everything she had not to cry. He was here, and he saw her. Her Mike.  _ My Mike _ . 

“El.” It wasn’t a question, but still she nodded. 

They moved as one, embracing the other in a hug they had each waited almost an entire year for. 

“I can’t believe it’s really you,” he whispered into her neck. 

“I’m here, Mike,” El said back, arms clinging to him as if she’d never let go. She sure as hell didn’t ever want to. 

Mike was sure he was suffocating El in his arms, but he didn’t release her. He didn’t want this dream to end, to have to go back to his boring, normal life without her. But this wasn’t a dream; she was actually here. 

They held each other at arm's length, taking in every detail of the other. During all the times El had seen Mike in the Void, she hadn’t realized how tall he’d gotten, or how his freckles had multiplied. 

Mike hadn’t really thought about how El would have changed in the past almost year. He definitely didn’t expect the deep chocolate curls that framed her face. Not that he was complaining. At all. She also looked older. When he last saw her, her eyes were filled with fear. Now, she looked wiser, and the look in her eyes was harder, more reserved. Now, they were also filled with tears. Mike too had streaks down his cheeks.  _ And they were in Hawkins freaking Middle _ . 

Then it dawned on Mike;  _ El looks really good for someone who was just on the run for months. Who has she been staying with? _

El’s eyes widened. “Oh. Hopper’s going to be mad.” 

“Wait, Hopper’s been hiding you?!” Mike asked. His anger spiked. 

He immediately regretted it when El looked down guiltily. 

“He said it wasn’t safe,” El said quietly. “He said the bad men would come after you, too. He said I was the last thing you needed…” Her voice trailed off. 

Mike’s heart shattered for her. “El, it’s not your fault, none of it is. It just matters that you’re here now. And whatever Hopper is going to do, we can face him together.” 

El sniffed and nodded. “Together.”

Mike took a finger and wiped away a single tear running down her cheek. To his surprise, she didn’t shy away from his touch, so he kept his hand there. 

She leaned into his palm, it was warm, much warmer than the cool October winds outside. El decided she liked it. A small smile played across her lips.  _ Home _ . 

Mike cupped El’s cheek with his palm, watching her smile. He couldn’t describe how much he missed her with words, but… 

He kissed her. Mike kissed El. 

El inhaled sharply in surprise at first, but she quickly melted into Mike’s embrace. She had watched enough soap operas on Hopper’s tv to know about where she should put her hands. El was surprised she could even remotely think when she was enveloped in Mike, his arms around her. 

She rested a hand in his hair, the other wrapping around his shoulder. Mike only squeezed harder. 

_ It’s been too long _ . 

Their kiss last year had been tentative, unsure. But this was something new for the both of them. One of Mike’s hands still cupped her cheek, the other reaching around her back. It was the kind of kiss she had always dreamed of, the one she’d seen before during some of her soaps, but this was different. Sure, she had sometimes imagined her and Mike as characters in one or two of the shows she’d seen, but she hadn’t thought it would ever become a reality. 

Mike was freaking out. He had never kissed a girl before, not  _ really _ . But El wasn’t complaining, and he wasn’t either, so he didn’t pull away. 

“Hey, Wheeler, I-  _ HOLY SHIT WHEELER _ !” Max appeared around the corner as Mike and El jumped apart. 

Max watched as Mike fidgeted and El glared at her until she finally spoke up. “Okay, what the hell is going on?!” 

Mike looked at El, who was still regarding Max coldly. “It’s okay, this is Max. She’s kind of in our Party now, I guess.” 

“Wait, really?” Max said, incredulous. Then she smirked. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all, Wheeler.” Another pause. “But who is she?” 

El seemed to have let down her guard a bit, watching how Mike interacted with this girl.  _ Mike trusts her, I can trust her _ . She nodded slightly, encouraging him. 

“Well, Max, this is El,” Mike said, almost proudly. 

Max’s eyes popped. “Wait, you’re- I thought you said she- what?” 

Mike’s fingers touched El’s. “Her actual name is Eleven- or, it was, anyways. She was… raised… in a government lab. Last year something happened, and she helped us. But then she disappeared, and now she’s back.” 

“You mean that lab here in Hawkins?!” Max looked bewildered. 

He nodded. “And there’s something else, too.” 

Max’s eyebrows shot up even further. “Something else?” she repeated. 

“Yes,” El said quietly, stepping away from Mike. She lowered her gaze, focusing on one of the fall wreaths hanging on a nearby classroom door. It floated off it’s hook to rest just in front of Mike, who picked it out of the air. 

The redhead’s mouth formed a perfect ‘o’. “You’re a telekinetic?!” 

El nodded apprehensively, wiping a drop of blood from her upper lip. 

“That’s so cool!” Max beamed. “You’re amazing.” 

Evidently not expecting this reaction, El smiled a little too. Mike breathed a sigh of relief; they weren’t going to kill each other. 

Then El stiffened. Mike looked around for the source of her distress, but only heard footfalls nearby. 

“Someone’s coming!” Max hissed. The two of them coaxed El into an empty storage closet and closed the door behind her. 

To their surprise, Lucas appeared. 

“Oh thank god it’s only you, I’m finally not going to be a third wheel,” Max said to the new arrival. 

Lucas looked panicked, but curious. “Wait, what? Third wheel? There’s only two of you!” 

“Yeah, these two were sucking face like, two minutes ago.” Before Mike could stop her, Max opened the door to the closet El was hiding in. 

Mike pushed her out of the way. “You okay in there?” he asked the darkness. Only a sniffle answered him. “Oh shit.”

El did not like small, dark, or enclosed spaces. Even spaces that had her best interest in them. But she had come to understand that this fear wasn’t her fault. But when Mike and Max closed the door of the storage closet on her, she felt like she was back in the lab again and she couldn’t help but feel the fear of the lab course through her again. She didn’t even realize she had started sobbing until Mike had opened the door again and was wiping away her tears. He helped her to stand up again, and just hugged her for another solid minute while Max and Lucas gaped. 

“Is that-” He stuttered, but words seemed to fail him. 

“Did you find Dart?” Max finally asked Lucas. 

The panic returned to his eyes. “No. But something’s wrong with Will.” 

That got everyone’s attention. 

“What happened?” Mike demanded, still trying to comfort El. 

“I-I don’t know,” Lucas said quickly. “One minute he was radioing us that he found Dart, the next we couldn’t find him. Eventually Dustin found him just standing in the middle of the field. He won’t respond to us or anything. Mrs. Byers is also here, and she can’t get him to do anything.” 

Mike stiffened. “He’s probably having another episode. We need to go!” He took El’s hand in his. “Come on, we’re gonna go help Will.” 

El followed him, being pulled along by his hand. Max and Lucas followed suit shortly behind. 

“There!” he pointed towards the middle of the school field. Three people stood there. When the rest of the Party approached, they knew something was seriously wrong. Will stood stalk still, eyelids fluttering slightly, showing the whites of his eyes. Mike felt El gasp quietly beside him. He squeezed her hand in response. 

They all took turns shaking and calling out to Will, until finally his eyes shot open. 

“Will!” Joyce held him at arm's length. “Are you okay? Did you have another episode?” 

Will nodded, eyes still wide in fear. 

“Okay, we’re going to get you home. You’re gonna be fine,” his mother reassured him. She led him back inside the school building, and everyone else followed. 

“Mike?” El asked quietly, still gripping his hand with her own. “Is he going to be okay?” 

He squeezed back. “I hope so…”

Joyce quickly got Will his things from his locker and hurried him out to her car. She turned back to face the other kids. El hid behind Mike. So far, with everything happening with Will, nobody had really noticed her. 

“Thank you,” Mrs. Byers said to them. “I think I can take it from here.” She put her car in reverse and sped out of sight. 

Max spoke up. “What the hell just happened?!” 

It was Lucas who surprisingly spoke up. “We, uh, have some things to tell you. About last year, I mean.” 

“Does this have something to do with El?” Max asked. 

Mike and El were at the back of the Party, El still going mostly unnoticed. 

“El? How do you know about El?” Dustin asked. 

“Well for one, Mike told me, and two, she’s right there.” Max pointed to where the two were standing. 

“El!” Dustin shouted, rushing over to hug her. “I knew you weren’t dead!” 

“Really, Dustin?” But Lucas too hugged her. 

“We talked about you pretty much every day,” Dustin admitted. “Or, at least, Mike did.”

Mike promptly turned beet red. 

“No shit,” Max agreed. “When I saw you and her sucking face when I interrupted you, you looked like you wanted to propose.” 

El shrugged, then went to stand beside the furiously blushing Mike. Her hand found his. 

The rest of the Party looked at each other. “So… what do we do now?” Dustin asked. 

“Upside Down,” El said quietly. 

“What?” Dustin questioned. 

“Will,” she clarified. “He sees the Upside Down.” 

“Wait, what? How?” 

She shook her head. Not sure. 

“Can you help him?” Mike asked tentatively, squeezing her hand. 

El looked at the sky, as if waiting to see if something would appear. “I… don’t know.” 

“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out. He’ll be okay,” Mike promised. 

She nodded, wrapping herself around his arm. 

“Should we all go back to Will’s?” Lucas asked, breaking the awkward silence. 

Max, surprisingly, was the one that shook her head. “He needs a break. Let’s see how he’s doing before school tomorrow.” 

Dustin nodded. “I’m okay with that.” 

“See you tomorrow, then.” Lucas took his bike off the rack, then stepped onto it. 

Various ‘see you’s were exchanged until only Mike and El were left standing on the school’s front steps, El still holding Mike’s arm. 

“So…” Mike started. “Are you going to go back to Hopper’s?” 

El shook her head. “He wouldn’t let me see you. Says it’s not safe. But I needed to see you.” 

“But El, you’re risking your life…” 

“For you,” she said. “Worth it.” 

El burrowed her head into Mike, who wrapped his arms around her. 

“Can I stay at your house?” El asked Mike’s jacket. “Don’t want to see Hopper.” 

“Yeah, uh, sure,” Mike said. “You can stay in my basement again.” 

“Thank you.” El disentangled herself from him, then ran a hand through her unkempt brown hair. “Hopper’s nice. Strict, though.” 

“Yeah, I definitely got that from him,” Mike laughed. “Should we get going?” 

She nodded. “Will your parents be okay with me?” 

“They’re gonna have to be,” Mike shrugged. “I won’t send you back to Hopper if you don’t want me to.” 

Mike climbed on his bike, then waited until El had secured herself behind him before he started pedalling. 

They zoomed down the street, passing the general store, the RadioShack, and the movie theatre until they got to the more residential area of Hawkins - where Mike’s family lived. 

The house looked exactly like El remembered. The first time she’d seen it was during that cold and dark night almost an entire year ago. 

_ More than 300 days without seeing each other _ . 

Mike led her around back to the basement door, quickly checking to make sure nobody was in the room before ushering her inside. 

“You kept the fort up,” El observed. She, of course, knew this from her visits with Mike in the Void, but it warmed her heart all the same. 

“Yeah. It made me feel close to you, I guess…” he trailed off, seemingly embarrassed. 

“I like it.” 

“You… you do?” He asked. 

She nodded, lifting the blanket so she could see inside. “I felt safe here, last year. Comfortable.” 

“That’s good,” Mike said. He slipped off his coat and shoes, then crawled into the mass of blankets. 

El did the same, setting her cost gently on top of Mike’s and her shoes on the mat by the door. She joined him in the fort, a tight squeeze for the two teens, but a welcome one. 

He bravely wrapped his arm around her, gently squeezing her against him. El didn’t mind at all, though she wished he… 

“Mike?” 

“Yeah, El?” 

“Can you kiss me again?” El asked quietly. 

Mike looked bewildered for a moment before meeting her intense gaze. “Close your eyes,” he instructed quietly. 

She did as she was told, fluttering her lids shut a moment before feeling a hand caress her cheek. She shivered, relishing in the warmth of his hand. Another moment and his mouth was on hers, kissing her tenderly. 

He started out tentative, though he gradually got bolder by resting a hand on her waist and another in her hair. 

El, on the other hand, got less and less daring as she simply let herself be pulled into Mike. She wrapped her arms around his chest, grabbing fistfuls of his sweater and holding on for dear life. 

All too soon, Mike was pulling away from her, inhaling deeply. El slowly opened her eyes. “Why’d you stop?” 

Mike turned beet red. “My mom’s calling me. I’ll be right back.” He quickly stands up from the duvet, then turns back. “If she asks about you, I’ll just say I’m helping you study for science. She’ll be okay with that.” El nodded, watching Mike disappear again. 

_ Did she love Mike Wheeler?  _

_ Hopper had explained to her what love is, but she didn’t really understand it. Though what she felt when Mike was kissing her? She sure as hell felt like she was in love.  _

_But did he feel the same way?_  
  
————

“Yeah, mom?” Mike appeared at the top of the basement stairs to come face to face with his mother. 

“Do you have any of your friends over?” Mrs. Wheeler asked, hands on hips. 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I meant to call earlier but I didn’t get a chance. My friend Eleanor is here. I’m helping her study for this big science test we have tomorrow.” The lie sounded false, even to him, but it was the best he had. 

Karen sighed, but eventually smiled.  “You’re a good kid for helping her. Does she want to stay for dinner?” 

“Wait, she can?” Mike asked, surprised. 

“Sure, why not? Your father brought home an extra large roast, so there’ll be plenty to share.” 

“Thanks mom!” Mike shouted, giving her a quick hug before sprinting back down the stairs. 

“You’re welcome,” his mother answered, a bemused expression in her face. 

“El? You still there?” Mike called, reaching the basement stairs. 

The girl nodded, pushing blankets out of the way so he could come back in the fort. 

“So my mom says you can stay for dinner, if you want,” he said, putting in emphasis on the  _ if you want _ . 

El nodded again, patting the space beside her. Mike obliged, sliding back into his place next to El. 

“I should probably get my textbook so it looks like we’re actually studying,” Mike said, laughing and gesturing to the book across the room by his backpack. He started to get up, but El gently pulled him back down. “El, I need to get-“ 

He stopped talking when the book appeared in front of him. El grinned as she wiped a drop of blood from her nose. 

“You’re amazing,” he said in wonderment. He laughed. “I almost forgot you could do that.” 

El didn’t respond, just gazed at him with her brown eyes, that Mike realized were very  _ very _ pretty. 

“Mike?” She quietly asked. 

“Yeah?” He whispered back. 

“I think I love you,” El said quickly. 

“You… you do?” 

She nodded. “During those 347 days I thought about you. All I wanted was to see you again.” She paused. “All I wanted was for you to kiss me again.” 

Mike stared at her for a moment before clearing his throat. “I wanted to hug you and kiss you and protect you during every single day we were apart. And the rest of the Party kept telling me to move on because we didn’t even know if- if-“ he couldn’t finish his sentence. 

“I’m here,” El assured him, clinging onto his arm again. “I won’t leave again.” 

The boy gave her a watery smile, putting her into a one-arm hug. “Don’t go.” 

“I won’t, I promise. Not again.” 

The inches between them closed, and their lips met again. 

“I love you, El.” 

“I love you too, Mike.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt at writing Mileven, and this hasn’t been beta’d by anyone either. If you find any mistakes, please let me know!   
> 💙🦉


End file.
